Dafydd Wigley calls for the 'character assassination' of Saunders Lewis to come to an end

Lord Wigley argues Saunders Lewis (pictured) should be seen as a 'a mainstream European politician, way ahead of his time in Wales'

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Former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley has called for an end to the “character assassination” of Saunders Lewis – a pioneer of Welsh nationalism and one of most controversial figures in Wales’ modern political history.

Lord Wigley will unveil a plaque in honour of Lewis today in Penarth, where the author and activist lived in the later years of his life.

Lewis played a pivotal role in raising concern about the future of the Welsh language and his 1962 radio address Tynged Yr Iaith spurred the creation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg.

However, in recent years there has been intense scrutiny of the attitude of Lewis and other Plaid Cymru leaders towards European fascism. Their positions on World War II and the Spanish Civil War have come under close examination.

A man we should 'be proud to salute'

He said: “It is always important that a nation remembers its leaders – whether in the fields of literature, drama, history , philosophy, religion or politics, (as well as many more); and Saunders Lewis was a leader in all these six spheres of Welsh life in the middle part of the 2oth century.

“It is particularly timely that we should at this juncture – as we face a referendum on our continued membership of the European Union – that we remember the European vision that Saunders Lewis brought to Welsh politics.

“In this context the time is ripe to re-assess his contribution and to see him as a mainstream European politician, way ahead of his time in Wales.

“It is also time to sweep away the character assassination deliberately waged against him both during his life and even after his death: he was a great man whom we should – as a nation, and across political boundaries – be proud to salute”.

Prof Jones concluded that Plaid “had fewer illusions than most in the 1930s about the dangers of fascism and totalitarianism” and that “leading members of the Welsh establishment worked together in the war for years to try and destroy the reputation of the party by linking it to Hitler”.

The Institute of Welsh Affairs last year facilitated an in-depth discussion of the book’s themes.

Conservative Deputy Presiding Officer David Melding argued in his contribution that “as Richard Wyn Jones demonstrates with clarity, humour and some justified anger, the charge that Plaid was fascist is one of the shameful calumnies of our times.”

However, he added : “That Lewis made some ugly remarks about Jews cannot be denied. He certainly did not rise above the all too common prejudice of his day.”

Today he said: “Saunders Lewis was a great political thinker who got some things right, others wrong. His errors, like not fully appreciating the unique evil of the Nazi regime earlier, have cast a shadow on his achievements that should now be lifted. In reasserting the vision of Britain as an association of nations he was decades ahead of his time.

“Although he overlooked the potential of a bilingual Wales, he was right to urge a passionate defence of the Welsh language as a central pillar of European civilisation”.